They All Love You

part twenty-one

Hermione and Theo were panting and gasping for oxygen, palms and backs rested against the dark brick wall, dazed from their sprinting activities in recent times. Hermione could barley think, and was internally scolding herself for running so much today after all she drank the previous night. 

Theo was next to her, back against the wall and hands on his forehead, coughing and panting from sprinting down the halls with a sense of eagerness rising in his chest.

Hermione finally had a lead, after a month or so she had finally gotten somewhere. When the ministry dismissed the case as a misfired spell and Professor McGonogall announced it to the Head Students, her skin prickled with unease. 

With every inch of her, she wanted to get up and scream at Minister Shacklebolt for how incompetent his employees were being. Why would a harmless professor be practicing such a grim spell, and a woman of her great achievements wouldn't be stupid enough to get it wrong. Right?

Instead of ranting to her Professor and Role model, she kept her eyes glued to the wooden floor boards in the Headmaster's office. 

Thinking.

Questioning.

It was then that she vowed to solve the case herself, making sure nobody knew of her unease, and making sure she could rest in peace. Something heavy suffocated her heart, like this was her responsibility. She tried to shake the feeling, remembering she only found her body, but apart from finding her- she felt like there was a reason. 

She was responsible for solving her murder case. And now, she was one step closer to it, thanks to Draco Malfoy. Who she kissed. You were drunk Hermione reassured to herself, shaking that thought away. She could deal with that later.

"So...how do we do this?" Theo huffed, his breathing becoming a bit more steadier.

"Um...I dunno, do we just-ask them?" Hermione asked rhetorically who only received a shrug from Theo for her answer. "Excuse me? Mister- Circus performer?"

Hermione was addressing a small painting, hung a little ways across from the Herbology classroom, nearly parallel to the door, but a little ways off to the right. The painting had a minimalist gold frame, bordering a painting of a musical stage where three wizards were conjuring different spells to make objects float, dance and swim about the room. In the front, a proud circus performer was muttering a spell at a golden apple, placed on a white pillar for an absolute dramatic appearance.

The man was small, naturally, and sported a dark chestnut mustache, curving into tiny spirals at the top points of his lips. His hair was messed about and his hand gripped the wand tirelessly. He turned for a moment to look at Hermione before going back to muttering spells.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" the man, with a thick Irish accent, mumbled from the painting.

Theo and Hermione both looked at each other with wide eyes and then looked away. They had never had a formal conversation with a portrait before in all of their seven years at Hogwarts, only interacting with their common room portraits.

"Um...Mister..."

"Malkin."

"Malkin. We actually were wondering to ask you a a few things," Hermione inquired.

The man bordley looked at her and sighed, "I've dealt with too many students to know you are up to nothing but trouble, good day!"

"Wait! Erm, we just had to ask you about Professor Sprout!" Theo blurted, worried about the future of the conversation that was going very wrong very quickly.

Mister Malkin had stopped muttering spells to fully give his attention to the two hopeful students, looking between both of them.

"Ah yes, Pamona Sprout. Lovely old woman, always stayed to have a chat with me. Haven't seen her in some time, how is she?" the man asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly at Hermione.